Track work to cause delays in key Amtrak route

Faster trains in the long run will mean delays of up to an hour this summer and fall for Amtrak passengers between St. Louis and Chicago.

By Tim LandisBusiness Editor

Faster trains in the long run will mean delays of up to an hour this summer and fall for Amtrak passengers between St. Louis and Chicago.

The Lincoln Service corridor is among the busiest in the Amtrak system. Nearly 656,000 passengers took the five daily trains in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

Construction crews are working this summer on track, signal and other upgrades to allow for train speeds of up to 110 mph between St. Louis and Joliet by the end of 2015. The current maximum is 79 mph on most of the route, which includes the stop in Springfield.

The latest phase of $1.5 billion worth of upgrades between St. Louis and Chicago includes new and rebuilt rail sidings between Auburn and Lincoln.

“Almost all of this (delay) is construction, though freight volume is also an issue,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Wednesday.

Amtrak operates on Union Pacific tracks between St. Louis and Chicago, and passenger trains often must wait on sidings for priority freight traffic. An Amtrak advisory sent out earlier this month said passengers could expect delays of 45 minutes to an hour until Nov. 15.

Magliari said the carrier has urged passengers to check the Amtrak website, www.amtrak.com, and to sign up for mobile notifications of changes in train schedules. Passengers also can check train status by calling (800) 872-7245.

The Illinois Department of Transportation says new sidings should cut delays by allowing trains traveling in opposition directions to pass without extended stops and for faster trains to pass slower trains traveling in the same direction.

Amtrak began running trains at speeds up to 110 mph on the section of track between Dwight and Pontiac in 2012.

IDOT projects St. Louis-to-Chicago travel times will be cut by half an hour with expansion of 110-mph service in 2015 and by another half hour by the end of 2017.

Auburn Mayor Barb Stamer said Wednesday the city planned to send a representative to a hearing Tuesday on rail-siding construction.

But she said the biggest changes for the south Sangamon County community of 4,800 would be along the Union Pacific line.

“They'll be putting safety fencing all along the tracks,” Stamer said. “They're also closing a pedestrian crossing.”